The Real World
by Stormhawk
Summary: Smith is brought into the real world. Trouble follows. Is he to be trusted?
1. The Real World

Title: The Real World  
  
Author: Stormhawk  
  
Disclaimer: This all belongs to The W Brothers and Warner Brothers. And the Agents, don't forget the agents.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Word Count: 6840  
  
Summary: The freedom fighters have come up with a new trace program pill that can pull matrix software (i.e. Agents) into the real world. Smith is the guinea pig. Can they survive each other and is he to be trusted?  
  
Notes: AU Written before I saw the second movie. This is my excuse if in the unlikely event that anything in it contradicts it. Being an AU fic you can ignore it.  
  
Neo, Trinity and Morpheus and two new freedom fighters, Virus a hacker about trinity's age and Disk, a new recruit fresh out of the matrix, stood in the construct. Tank loaded them clothes, weapons, phones.  
  
'Do you want to take it this time Neo?'  
  
'Yeah Tank, load it.'  
  
In Neo's hand a small box appeared, he opened it, inside was a round red pill. Tank pushed a couple of buttons and they found themselves in the Matrix. Their mission was simple. The agents had taken interest in a couple of kids in a computer-orientated college and they were going to move first.  
  
Though on the streets their gothic clothing often drew attention to them, in the college they fitted right in. They looked around for the pair of kids but couldn't find them.  
  
'Aren't they supposed to be here Trin?' Neo asked. Trinity nodded and turned to call Tank to search for them. 'Watch out!' she screamed as she turned.  
  
A trio of passing kids had become agents. They raised their guns and fired, most had no trouble ducking out of the way but a bullet hit Disk straight through the heart. Virus ran to his aid but then died herself.  
  
The three remaining started to fight the agents. Everyone else in the college ran away. Neo, confident in his abilities as the one had time to think as he fought the agent, Smith, why the hell does it always have to be Smith? Can't they give me a different agent to fight? He had destroyed the program a while ago but the Matrix programmers had evidently had a back-up copy.  
  
He punched Smith in the face and that made the program stop for a second. That one second was long enough for Neo. He opened the silver box Tank had loaded for him and forced the pill down Smith's throat.  
  
'It's done - run.' Neo shouted as his friends made a run for it.  
  
The other two agents looked down at Smith who was choking on the ground. They looked at each other in distaste, he was so human that he disgusted them.  
  
Smith meanwhile was not having a human reaction to the pill. He could feel his program degrading byte by byte. He looked to his fellow agents for help but they had disappeared and the students they had replaced had returned.  
  
Neo, Trinity and Morpheus were hidden not far away, waiting for the other agents to go. Once they had seen them leave they returned to Smith. Morpheus and Neo pulled him to his feet and Trinity guided them to the exit.  
  
Smith tried to fight back but his strength seemed to have left him. Trinity pulled the ringing phone from the hook and exited the matrix. Next Neo forced the receiver to Smith's ear and forced him to exit the matrix.  
  
In the real world, Trinity had bound Disk's dead body to the chair and watched in surprise as something came back into it. It wasn't her friend back from the dead - it was something far more unnatural.  
  
Neo and Morpheus exited and Tank pulled the plugs from their necks. They stood in a semi-circle around 'disk'. He looked up and sneered. 'Where am I?' Smith's voice rang through their friend's mouth.  
  
'The real world,' Morpheus said.  
  
It took the ex-agent a moment to answer. 'That's impossible.'  
  
'Look around you - does this look like the Matrix to you?' Neo asked.  
  
Smith tried to twist his head around but the plug stopped him. Tank took it out before he did himself an injury.  
  
'This is a trick.'  
  
Trinity smiled and punched him. 'Does it feel like a trick?'  
  
'Why?'  
  
'We needed a guinea pig.'  
  
They left him tied to the chair to contemplate his existence for a while. The all went to the mess. 'Was this a good idea?'  
  
'It was the only way Trinity. We had to see if it worked.'  
  
'I still don't understand,' Tank said.  
  
'We pulled Smith's consciousness, program whatever you want to call it through the land line into the real world. If we ever find what controls the matrix from inside and pull it out like that we can destroy it from the inside. We had to test it on a piece of software first and it worked.' Morpheus said.  
  
'So what do we do with it?'  
  
'I can think of a few things,' Neo muttered darkly.  
  
'So can I Neo but we aren't them.'  
  
'Sorry Morpheus.'  
  
They undid Smith's restraints and threw him into one of the empty rooms until they decided what to do with him.  
  
He looked around the cold and sparse room. He had never been this alone in his life.existence. He had existed before but now he was alive, in someone else's body but still alive.  
  
Every step he took was a new experience for him, he had appeared to be human and had emotions but now they seemed real and sensations were a lot stronger when you weren't experiencing them purely for the intellectual curiosity.  
  
On the command deck Neo tried to reason with Morpheus to allow him to kill the agent on the deck below. 'How many of us have they killed? He's just one and none have ever been so vulnerable before.'  
  
'You can't kill him Neo. Not while he is in a human body.'  
  
'Disk's body. Disk is dead and he's not coming back. I don't understand you Morpheus.' With that Neo left and loaded himself into a training program that he had created. In the program he could let out his rage on anything that got in his way.  
  
'Neo's right Morpheus, why are you protecting him?'  
  
'You will see Trinity, you will see.'  
  
In his room Smith sat on the bunk, his head resting on his hands as he had often observed his prisoners do. He was contemplating how to escape. But to where? He couldn't get back into the Matrix and it was unlikely that any machine in the real world would believe who he was. He was stuck and there was nothing he could do about it.  
  
Would the humans kill him? They had more than enough reason to. Was it because he was in one of their friend's bodies? He dismissed the thought, they knew better than anyone that anyone who dies in the matrix dies in the real world.except that annoying Mr. Anderson. Neo, his mind corrected him, a simple change of letters for One.  
  
His lower belly made a strange noise, it was disturbing to him. He ran through a list of files, one popped up straight away - hunger. The body he was in was hungry. Food, he of course knew about food. He looked human in the matrix and had often seen people eat, or at least believe they were eating. More cross-references came up, if he didn't eat he would eventually die.  
  
He required food and wasn't ready to die as long as there was..was hope the right word to use? As long there was hope of getting back into the matrix.  
  
He didn't want to call to the humans as it would be a sign of weakness and he wasn't ready to grovel yet. Not yet anyway.  
  
He heard the door unlock and he stood. The girl, Trinity walked in and placed a tray of food on the table. Humans fed their prisoners?  
  
'It's food, you have to eat. Morpheus wants you alive for the moment.' He stood and stared unblinkingly at her.  
  
'We aren't allowed to kill you so don't worry - it's not poison.' Poison? That hadn't even occurred to him.  
  
He walked toward the food. It was the standard everything-your-body-needs- gruel and a cup of water. He was never expected to do this, he had observed humans doing it but had never bothered to learn how.  
  
Trinity, obviously not wanting to bother with an annoying agent in a human body testily asked 'What?'  
  
'I.,' Smith faltered, it would reveal his weakness, 'I don't know how.'  
  
Trinity laughed at him, it was a cruel laugh and his weakness gave her some pleasure. She finished but an unkind smirk stayed on her face, she was going to enjoy this.  
  
'Pick up the spoon.' Smith picked up the spoon and gripped the handle as you would a gun. Trinity took the spoon from him and showed him how to hold it then pantomimed eating several spoons of gruel.  
  
'Got it now?' Smith nodded and started to eat. He put a spoon of food into his mouth and jumped back from it, the spoon went flying. He jumped back onto the bunk trying to run from himself.  
  
'I wish I had a camera,' Trinity said as the agent spat out the food. She didn't quite understand what was happening but it was funny nonetheless.  
  
Smith slowly calmed down and tried to process it. He had just experienced taste. He looked down in shame at the food down his torn shirt. He stepped off the bunk and picked up the tray.  
  
'What was that all about?'  
  
'Taste,' he said simply. She shrugged, closed the door and locked it and left.  
  
Smith picked the spoon up off the floor and ate the gruel. He drank the water which was another experience again.  
  
Trinity walked back up to the command deck. 'You fed him?'  
  
'Yessir. It was quite funny.'  
  
'Good. Keep at it.'  
  
'Amusing he may be but I want to know what's going on.'  
  
'All right, I'll tell you. We have an agent, vulnerable and alone. He knows every code and holds all the keys to the matrix and if we can find some way of getting on his good side he will give us the keys.'  
  
'What if he doesn't?'  
  
'Then Neo gets him,' Morpheus said coldly.  
  
Smith sat on the bed unsure of what to do. He had eaten all of his meal and neatly placed the spoon in the metal bowl. The pillow behind him was soft, of course he wasn't a good judge but it felt nice. He closed his eyes for a second. This annoyed him, he had been blinking a lot more since he had entered the real world.  
  
He laid back and this seemed to relieve some of the tension from his back. What was he to do?  
  
Something pounded on the door. He sat up, unsure. If it was one of them why didn't they just unlock it? Could it be one of the machines? Could they have found him already?  
  
The door blew in with just one more pound. Smith stood and saw Neo. Apparently some of the power he had within the Matrix had crossed over into the real world.  
  
'Well aren't you going to say it?' Neo practically spat at him.  
  
Smith was confused, 'say what?'  
  
'Mr. Anderson.' Neo said as he came flying at him. Before he had a chance to react the human had beaten him to a pulp. Being.only human he didn't have a chance of fighting back.  
  
Neo continued to punch and kick him even while he was bleeding over the floor. The pain was excruciating, surely he was going to die. The girl, Trinity had lied to him, they had planned on killing him all the time.  
  
Neo lifted him up and threw him against the wall. He heard something crack and heard nothing more. A sharp pain across the face made him open his eyes and look around.  
  
He was lying on the bed. All the humans were looking down at him. He heard Neo say, 'can I slap him again?'  
  
He turned and saw Neo. He clambered back from him and looked at him with real fear. He looked at himself, he wasn't bleeding, nor was he bruised. The only pain he felt was from a slap across the face.  
  
'You killed me,' he said softly to Neo.  
  
Neo looked around to his friends. 'No, you were having a nightmare. You were dreaming.'  
  
'Dreaming?' That was impossible for an agent, it was against their programming.  
  
'We heard you screaming all the way up on command deck.'  
  
'It wasn't real?' Smith was still reeling from this. How could humans stand to do this every night?  
  
The freedom fighters looked at each other. Was this pathetic creature before them the deadly agent they had fought so many times?  
  
One by one they quietly got up and left. He heard the door lock again and then he did something he never in his whole program been expecting to do - he cried.  
  
He cried for no reason and for every reason in both worlds.  
  
On the command deck Tank walked around checking equipment. 'That was scary, who would have imagined an agent could dream?'  
  
'I think the plan is working.'  
  
'If I didn't know better I would feel sorry for him.'  
  
'Sorry Trinity? Sorry, he's only a computer program.'  
  
'Neo he looked like a little kid.'  
  
'Kids don't kill people.'  
  
'Dreams about people killing you are always frightening. Haven't you ever had one?'  
  
'Of course haven't you?'  
  
'We've all had dreams like that,' Morpheus said before retiring to his room.  
  
Tank and Neo left. Trinity went to follow them but stopped. In her dreams Smith had been the one doing the killing.  
  
Smith sat awake, he didn't plan on sleeping for the rest of the time that he was human. He didn't know what would keep himself awake but would do absolutely anything.  
  
Trinity unlocked the door, unsure of why she was doing it but deep in her heart she felt sorry for him even though she still knew exactly what he was.  
  
He was gone! He wasn't sitting on the bed or the chair. She peered into the room and saw him standing behind the cupboard in the corner. She smiled, just like a child.  
  
He took a step forward and brandished the tray. 'Relax, you're awake.'  
  
'How do I know?'  
  
She took three quick steps forward and pinched him. He dropped the tray, thought for a second then said 'ow.'  
  
'If you were asleep you would be awake now.'  
  
'Ow,' he said again, testing the word out.  
  
'You have to sleep. Morpheus won't like you to be asleep tomorrow and Neo will be even more pissed at you than he is now.'  
  
'I don't want to sleep.' He said, not worried about revealing his weakness as everyone on the hover craft already knew it.  
  
'Tell me what happened. If you have a nightmare and tell someone about it that usually helps.'  
  
'Why are you doing this?'  
  
'I'm not sure, do you want me to leave?'  
  
'No, I'll tell you.'  
  
He told her every detail from it and she listened impassively. 'Boring,' she finally commented after he finished. 'Kid's stuff.'  
  
He stared at her, apparently this wasn't the reaction he had expected. 'That was a mild nightmare compared to the ones we usually have and sometimes live.'  
  
She recounted some of the worse ones that she had dreamt. He was always the killer. 'It is what I'm programmed to do,' he said when he was finished. 'It is what I was designed for.'  
  
'How many humans have you killed?'  
  
'Three hundred and fourteen.'  
  
She looked sick at the number. 'I knew a lot of those people. You're living in one of them right now.'  
  
'If I go to sleep, will I have another nightmare?'  
  
'No one knows, it's one of the things about being human. A lot of things are unknown.'  
  
'Damn humans.'  
  
'We already are damned thanks to your kind. Doomed to live in the matrix or hide like rats in this world.'  
  
'Is there so much wrong with the matrix? It is exactly like your world was.'  
  
'It's sick. Have you ever seen the fields of children being grown?'  
  
'It is not required for agents to bother with such things though I do know of them.'  
  
'Children are supposed to be born. To live under a real sun, to be free.'  
  
'Humans brought it on themselves. We are just the result.'  
  
'Sins of the fathers, blaming the creation instead of the creator.'  
  
'Yes.'  
  
'Get some sleep.'  
  
She stood to leave as he laid down on the bed. 'Trinity?'  
  
'What Smith?'  
  
'I'm afraid. I have never been afraid before.'  
  
'Comes with being human which is what you are for the moment.'  
  
He closed his eyes but Trinity saw his hands ball into fists. It was disturbing to see him afraid.  
  
He opened his eyes and saw her still there. 'Is it necessary that I sleep?'  
  
She nodded yes. She went over to him, sat on the chair beside the bed and sang a couple of lullabies. By the time she was finished he was asleep. She smiled to herself, the plan was working.  
  
She went out the door and saw Neo waiting for her. 'Rock-a-bye-baby?' he asked incredulously.  
  
'I haven't had to put a child to sleep in a long time. He's pathetic isn't he?'  
  
'Stupid agents,' Neo said as he walked with Trinity.  
  
In his cell, Smith opened his eyes, himself again and not afraid of sleep. The nightmare had rocked him but had not made him forget who he was. 'Stupid humans.' He said to himself, fool them into thinking I'm weak. He turned over and went to sleep.  
  
He awoke the next morning to Trinity brining him breakfast. He threw himself back into weak mode. 'I would be thankful if you didn't tell anyone about last night.'  
  
Trinity smiled and nodded. Poor little agent, she thought sarcastically.  
  
She left and he ate. After he was finished he knocked on the door until someone heard him. Tank opened the door. 'What do you want?'  
  
'I want to be let out.'  
  
'I'll have to see Morpheus about that.'  
  
'Take me to him, I will make my case to him in person.' Tank shivered at the last word, person. He was looking at both his friend and his enemy, it was weird.  
  
Smith followed Tank to Morpheus. 'He wanted to see you sir.'  
  
'What do you want?'  
  
'Since it appears I am stuck here I want to offer you a trade.'  
  
'What kind of a trade?'  
  
'I will give you lesser codes that I know and you will upload me back into the matrix.'  
  
'No deal. We want everything you know,' Neo said.  
  
'Neo be quiet. You will us the lesser codes on faith and after they prove to be true you will give us the access codes for the matrix's mainframe and we will upload you then.'  
  
'I don't have those codes.'  
  
'Then you don't get to go home Smith.' Neo said coldly.  
  
'What is that?' Smith asked. Pointing to a readout.  
  
'Damn,' Tank shouted, 'squiddy.' He found a place to set the hover craft down and turned all the power off except the EMP.  
  
Smith knew what the machine was but went to ask another question, as the hunter/killer drew closer Neo clamped his hand over the ex-agent's mouth. He kept it there until the machine had passed by.  
  
Later as a gesture of faith Smith had revealed a couple of very minor codes to them and he offered to help them refine the Agent training program. He was suitably unimpressed with the woman-in-the-red-dress but offhandedly commented that only three percent of women in the matrix actually come close to those parameters.  
  
It being dinnertime they exited the program. Neo silently took him back to room. Trinity came in with his gruel and left.  
  
As she closed the door and walked away Smith's brain felt electric. She had forgotten to lock the door!  
  
He could escape now but he needed a plan. He hunted around in the cupboards until he found an old but useable weapon. It was a projectile gun and had more than enough rounds to finish off the crew.  
  
He opened the door and headed up to the main deck. They sat around talking, all but Tank who was working silently at his computer.  
  
He raised the weapon and shot Morpheus. He stared Neo in the eyes before putting a hole in him. Tank was next but he hesitated when it came to Trinity.  
  
Trinity looked around in horror, Morpheus, Neo, Tank, they all lay before her dead.  
  
Smith, in Disk's body sneered at her. She took a step back from him. The weapons locker was a deck below and surely he would kill her before then.  
  
'Your turn,' he said as he stepped forward.  
  
She turned and ran from him. She had lived on this ship for years, she knew places to hide. She had to contact Zion. He would more than likely turn this ship in and the machines would use the ship to find out at least some of the human's secrets.  
  
If she couldn't kill him or escape then she would be used and made to tell everything she knew.  
  
She ducked into her room and opened a hatch beside her bed, slipped in and closed it behind her. Through the grate she saw his feet stop outside the room then walk on.  
  
At least for now she was safe. She made her way to the power grid, looked out the grate and couldn't see anyone so she dislodged it and crawled out.  
  
The second she was out someone grabbed her hair and pulled her to her knees. Smith had been standing in the blind spot beside the grate knowing that she would try and disable the main power so he couldn't fly the ship.  
  
'Let me go Smith.'  
  
'I don't think so.'  
  
'Are you going to kill me?'  
  
'I'm thinking about it.'  
  
'You killed all the others.'  
  
'Yes, I did. Mr. Anderson wasn't hard to kill in the real world. Disappointingly easy same with Morpheus.'  
  
'We were going to put you back in the matrix, you didn't have to kill them.'  
  
'You really expect me to believe that? You really must think I'm gullible. You humans are the gullible ones, thinking I was weak especially after that nightmare thing.'  
  
'What thing?'  
  
'You actually think I was bothered by some disjointed images of my own destruction, fooling you into thinking I was weak.you played right into my hands.'  
  
Trinity had to think fast, if not she was dead - or worse, a traitor. 'I was fooled Smith, the sympathy I showed you was real.'  
  
'I'm not fooling for that anymore.'  
  
'No, I swear. You can't help what you are ordered to do, out in this world you had no one so I felt sorry for you.'  
  
'Be that as it may it doesn't change anything.'  
  
'You don't have to kill me.'  
  
'Oh but I do. I have to make a clean sweep. It's unlikely you would tell us anything, you are very strong minded but even you can't survive bullets.'  
  
He cocked the gun and forced it against the back of her head.  
  
'Please don't.'  
  
'Are begging for your life Trinity?'  
  
'Yes, I don't want to die.'  
  
'I am disappointed, I thought you would at least face your end with dignity.'  
  
'It is not undignified to be afraid.'  
  
REAL WORLD  
  
'What's wrong Tank?' Morpheus. 'Get her out of there before he kills her.'  
  
'I can't there's something wrong with the program.'  
  
'You told me there was nothing wrong with it.'  
  
'I've had enough of this,' Neo said. He took three long strides over to 'Disk's' chair and pulled the plug.  
  
In the simulation Disk's body fell down. Trinity sighed and stood. Thank god.  
  
'Can you get me out of here now?' she said to the simulation.  
  
'We're working on it Trin,' Neo said even though she couldn't hear him.  
  
'You didn't think it would be that easy to get rid of me did you?' Smith said from behind her. No longer a shadow in a dead body, he was in his own form again.  
  
'How did you do that?'  
  
'You didn't think I knew this was a simulation? You fool, I am a program in a human body or not I know when I'm plugged in.'  
  
'Then why did you kill the others?'  
  
'On the off chance that they would die. But it would seem that you are stuck in here with me.'  
  
'You had something to do with that didn't you?'  
  
'I rewrote part of the program as soon as I was plugged in, it was just luck that it was you who were stuck.'  
  
'What exactly are you going to do?'  
  
'Go back into the Matrix and tell them where your ship is. They won't use the EMP while you're inside so say goodbye to your friends. If they do use the EMP then they're the ones who have to say goodbye.'  
  
'Bastard.'  
  
'It's what I'm programmed to do.' To their left an event horizon (think Sliders) opened up. Smith threw Trinity through then stepped through himself.  
  
'What did they just do Tank?'  
  
'They're in the Matrix.'  
  
'How?'  
  
'Smith must have done it, it's simple to go from the construct to the matrix if it's programmed into it, you've done it plenty of times, he must have hacked in and written that into the program.'  
  
Neo sat in the chair. 'I'm going in.'  
  
'I'd love to but I can't. Look.' He pointed to his screen. Instead of the matrix scrolling in front of him the screens were blank.  
  
'She's on her own.'  
  
'No.'  
  
'Trinity is strong Neo, she can get her own way out.' Morpheus said.  
  
Trinity woke up in a hall, she was being dragged along by two other agents. Brown and Jones, she had heard them called.  
  
Smith directed them into a room where they roughly threw her into a chair and restrained her.  
  
They hooked her up to various machines much like the ones she had seen Morpheus attached to when she and Neo had rescued him.  
  
Jones attached some sort of headset around her head and hooked it into a laptop that was resting on the table.  
  
In the real world Tank had managed to get the screens working again but were still unable to upload themselves in. Neo, Morpheus an Tank watched the code scroll as it revealed Trinity's fate.  
  
With an electrical charge the headset was turned on. With an involuntary jerk Trinity looked around the room.  
  
The screen in front of Jones began to flash up with words and sentences.  
  
What am I looking at Trinity thought. The same words appeared on the screen.  
  
That's impossible, again the words popped up on the screen.  
  
'Have you worked it out yet human?' Smith asked her.  
  
Trinity didn't answer him but the words, can't he just tell me and get it over with? Appeared on the screen.  
  
'This device reads your electronic thoughts and projects them onto the screen so your thoughts will betray whether you want them to or not.'  
  
Several words popped up on the screens describing exactly what she thought of him, the other agents, the matrix and exactly what she would want to do to them but they have been censored so that I can keep this rating reasonably low.  
  
'Very creative but you're wasting our time. Tell me what I want to know.'  
  
What does he want to know?  
  
'As if you don't know. I want all the codes that you know and I want them now.'  
  
Go to hell.  
  
'I'm already there.'  
  
Codes, can't leak the codes. 54367, no stop thinking about them, thry680, stop it Trinity.  
  
She tried to relax. Relax Trinity, relax and think about what Neo will do that bastard agent when he finds me.  
  
'Mr. Anderson isn't going to find you, nor will he rescue you. I was kind enough to leave a virus in that hover craft that will prevent anyone entering the matrix.'  
  
Again several censored words appeared. 'Tell us the codes.'  
  
Never.  
  
'I know several painful ways to kill you. You were kind enough to tell me them yourself.'  
  
'Hey you two,' she said out loud to the other two agents. 'Brown and Jones right?'  
  
They nodded once each. 'Did you know that Smith had a nightmare?' The two agents looked at each other and then to Smith.  
  
'Nightmare?' Brown asked. Jones tried unsuccessfully tried to hide a smirk.  
  
'He was screaming. We heard him from a deck above.'  
  
'Shut up human.'  
  
'I think his program is unstable.'  
  
'You had a nightmare?'  
  
Trinity closed her eyes and forced herself to think about the moment when they had run down to him. The memory appeared on Jones's computer, a little sketchy but perfectly understandable.  
  
'You killed me,' memory Smith said to Neo. His fear gave the other two agents reason to stare at their companion.  
  
Smith was grinding his teeth. Trinity was happy, as long as they were thinking about their insane co-agent they could forget about her.  
  
She switched to a different memory. She showed them being sung to sleep. For her part she showed that she had been faking the sympathy. Smith had had enough, he walked forward and punched her right in the face.  
  
The force threw her, and the chair she was tied to, down onto the ground and backward several feet. All of Jones's computer equipment went flying with her.  
  
'Are you trying to cover up more evidence of your human frailties?'  
  
'Tricks, they were all tricks. I was fooling them into thinking I was weak.'  
  
'What about the nightmare?'  
  
'A simple disjointed series of images brought on by the stress of being in a human body.'  
  
'Bullshit.' Trinity said from the floor. Smith walked over to her and drew his gun. Brown swiftly took his gun from him and escorted him out. Trinity looked up at the remaining agent.  
  
'Get up.'  
  
'I'm tried to a chair that's lying on the ground. I couldn't get up if I wanted to.' As if the fact had just occurred to him he hauled her and the chair back up to an upright position.  
  
Ignoring her he looked at his computer equipment, it was all ruined. He threw the laptop into a bin and went to retrieve another. Trinity allowed herself a small smile, she wasn't any worse off than she had been and if the truth be told she was probably a little better off without Smith.  
  
She just hoped that her friends would find her soon, Smith had been a distraction nothing more. They would be back soon. She pulled against the restraints and to her surprise one of them came loose. It must have broken when the chair hit the floor.  
  
She got one arm free and tried to pull loose from the others. She managed to get her other arm free so she ran. The building was relatively empty so she tried to find her way out.  
  
As she passed a corner the cold steel of a gun pressed into her back. 'Don't move.'  
  
Damn it she thought as she was escorted to a cell. Jones had been returning with the new computer but was ordered by Brown to throw her into a cell instead.  
  
The cells were small and cold. 'Happy human?' she looked up, in the cell across from her Smith was sitting on a bunk.  
  
'Didn't they delete you yet?'  
  
'They aren't going to delete me just wipe my program clean but for the moment they put me in here, I'm as feeble as you are.'  
  
'Shut up Smith. If I'm so feeble then how did I get you thrown in there?'  
  
You will be sorry.'  
  
'Your program will be cleaned, you won't even remember to make me sorry.' Trinity relaxed back onto her own bunk.  
  
'You are still going to die, you know that don't you?'  
  
'I'm not dead yet.'  
  
'They can't rescue you.'  
  
'Shut up or I will find some way to come over there to beat you up.'  
  
'Brown and Jones have no understanding of humans.'  
  
'That is part of why Neo hates you so much, you are so disturbingly human.' He was silent so Trinity tried to sleep.  
  
Across in his cell Smith was muttering lines from 'Rock-a-bye-baby' he kept repeating it until he realized how violent it was. 'When the bough breaks the cradle will fall and down will come baby cradle and all. Humans, singing such violent songs to innocent children.'  
  
'Are you schizophrenic, demented or deranged? You are talking to yourself.'  
  
'I was trying to understand why humans adore violence so much that they recite to children.'  
  
'And scared Agents? It's just a nursery rhyme Smith, now shut up.'  
  
'Humans are so complex.'  
  
'Thank you.'  
  
'Some agents can't understand that, they don't.'  
  
'Are you trying to make me feel sorry for you, you have killed how many, three hundred and fourteen humans, you have tried to kill me, Neo and Morpheus so many times I have lost count as well as trying to eliminate the human race outside the Matrix. Oh yeah Smith I feel really sorry for you.'  
  
'They are going to kill you. And in essence they are going to kill me as well.'  
  
'You were never alive to start with.'  
  
'And you?'  
  
'I'm not afraid.'  
  
'You could escape.'  
  
'How?'  
  
'Think about it. You aren't restrained, you could attempt a break out.'  
  
'Why are you telling me this?'  
  
'Help me to escape and get me back out of the Matrix. I will give Morpheus and your dear Mr. Anderson every code I know.'  
  
'That didn't work too well last time.'  
  
'Last time I was expecting to come back in and be acknowledged for the fact that I had you as a prisoner. Instead I am stripped of my abilities and are awaiting destruction. They have more copies of my Matrix, clean copies but I want to live.'  
  
'Until you get out of the matrix when Neo kills you for what you've done.'  
  
'Does sanctuary mean anything to you?' Trinity turned from him and considered his words. It was all moot anyway until she got out of there.  
  
'They're coming.'  
  
'How could you know?'  
  
'I do, the time to decide is now.' Trinity punched the wall and a section of concrete fell away, she beat the concrete until there was a space big enough to crawl through.  
  
She looked at the agent, he saw the look in her eyes. 'Don't leave me behind. Please.'  
  
She hunted around until she found a set of keys. She unlocked the door as Jones and Brown were returning. The two agents saw their escaped prisoners.  
  
'Do you trust me?' Smith asked Trinity.  
  
Trinity went to say 'no' but the word died in her throat. Smith grabbed her and he ran at the window. He jumped and they both crashed through it. It was five stories to the ground, a long way to fall.  
  
Trinity managed to right herself as to avoid injury. Smith landed beside her and they both ran away from the building.  
  
*****  
  
'There she is,' Tank shouted as Trinity's characters reappeared on the screens he had got to work. 'Shit.'  
  
'What Tank?' Tank pointed at the screen. 'Smith,' Neo growled.  
  
*****  
  
Trinity and Smith ran through the evening street. She paused only long enough to kick a business man in the head and steal his phone, she dialed the number that let her contact the real world.  
  
'Morpheus.'  
  
'Trinity, are you ok?'  
  
'I.we need an exit right now.'  
  
'We?'  
  
'Plug disk's body back in Smith is coming back out.'  
  
'Smith?'  
  
'Do it Morpheus.'  
  
'We can't get you out, his virus is preventing anyone coming in or out.' Trinity looked at Smith with a look that could have killed.  
  
'What?'  
  
'We're stuck in here because of your virus.' They heard footsteps behind them.  
  
'Give me the phone, run!' He swiped the phone as they ran from the pursuing agents.  
  
'I assume you are stuck at the password barrier?'  
  
'Yes,' Morpheus said evenly.  
  
'It's a simple twenty-seven character string.'  
  
'What is it?'  
  
'Humans are a virus we are the cure, no spaces between the words.'  
  
'Cute Smith.' He repeated the words to Tank who finally got the essential computer running.  
  
'Where's the.what's the word? Exit?'  
  
'Atlantic Street subway station.' Smith pointed the way to Trinity as they ran for freedom.  
  
'Neo, plug disk's body back in.'  
  
'No Morpheus, we aren't letting him back through. Not after what he did.'  
  
'Trinity said it, not me, she must have a reason.' Neo scowled and plugged his dead friend's body back in.  
  
The pair bounded down the stairs of the subway station. It was crowded, that was a blessing and a curse. The other two agents could appear in anyone of those people and the crowd would help to hide them.  
  
They could hear the ringing telephone. The two agents were at the top of the stairs. Trinity picked it up first. 'When it rings pick it up.' She exited the matrix slowly it seemed to smith.  
  
It seemed to take an age for the phone to ring. He picked it up and pressed it to his ear. He saw Brown point his gun at him but woke up in the real world before he got shot.  
  
'You kept your word,' he was frankly surprised. He hadn't expected the phone to ring. He became aware of Neo and Morpheus' stares. He sighed, a trait he had picked up last time he had been this body.  
  
'I am yours to do with as you will. I am not planning any tricks this time, I will willingly give you any and all codes I know. If you want to turn me over to judgment of Zion I will probably get more or less what was being planned for me in the matrix.' The words were spoken with such honesty that even Neo remained silent for a minute.  
  
'What did you do to him Trinity?'  
  
'I got the other two to throw him in a cell.'  
  
'Good work.'  
  
'I am perfectly aware of that but I deserved it.'  
  
'You can go to your cell while we think about what to do with you.'  
  
'I'll take him Morpheus,' Tank said. He stood and escorted the ex-agent out.  
  
Neo looked at Trinity, he walked over to her and gave her a small kiss. 'Don't ever do that to me again. I thought I had lost you.'  
  
'You'll never lose me.'  
  
'Glad to have you back Trinity.'  
  
'Thanks Morpheus.'  
  
'Why did we let him back out exactly?' Neo asked, incredulous.  
  
'Didn't you just hear his little speech? They were going to in essence kill him and he didn't want to die, he would rather be a traitor.'  
  
'If I knew all it took to get the keys to matrix was put the fear of death into an agent.'Morpheus trailed off. 'Good work Trinity.'  
  
Smith sat on his bunk and contemplated what he was doing. He had betrayed everything he was programmed to be loyal to. He consoled himself by realizing that they had betrayed him first, threatening to wipe his program clean and all.  
  
Neo opened the door, Morpheus had told him to bring Smith up to have a little talk. As Neo opened his mouth the ship hit something and both men were thrown into the wall.  
  
The ship stopped moving and they were all thrown into darkness. Neo sat up painfully and heard circuitry popping all around them. He felt he had to ask. 'Are you alive Smith?'  
  
'Do you even want to know Mr. Anderson?'  
  
'That answers my question.' Neo looked around, his eyes were slowly adjusting to the almost nonexistent light. 'We should get up to the command deck.'  
  
Smith nodded in the dark and rose. Neo went to the door but Smith sarcastically said, 'allow me Mr. Anderson.' And grabbed the doorknob. A huge electrical arc shot him backward into the wall.  
  
Unmoving he slipped to floor. Neo hesitated before seeing if the ex-agent was ok, Morpheus wanted him alive. He helped the injured man up. In the low light he could see the huge burn in his chest.  
  
'You're hurt,' he said without much emotion.  
  
'I'm dying,' Smith said simply.  
  
'Morpheus knows first aid.'  
  
'Pain,' the agent said weakly.  
  
Neo was caught between hating him and feeling sympathy, if he had tried to open the door it would be him dying.  
  
'Nightmare,' Smith said before he stopped moving. Neo closed his eyes and allowed him to fall back onto the bunk.  
  
He heard Morpheus' voice outside.  
  
'Neo!'  
  
'Yeah?'  
  
'Don't touch the door, it's charged.'  
  
'No problem.'  
  
When they could route the electricity away Trinity opened the door. 'Neo,' she said thankfully. 'Where's Smith?'  
  
He pointed to the bed. 'Dead,' he said flatly but not completely devoid of emotion.  
  
'Oh,' was all Trinity could muster.  
  
'It could have been me.'  
  
'I'm glad it wasn't.'  
  
As with all the dead bodies they had on ships they jettisoned it over an empty area of the real world desert. As they did it was obliged that someone say something.  
  
'Agent Smith was Agent Smith.' Trinity said using the only two words that were ever fit to sum him up.  
  
The End. 


	2. The Real World alternate ending: Life in...

Title: Alternate ending for 'The Real World'  
  
Author: Stormhawk  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: This all belongs to The W Brothers and Warner Brothers. And the Agents, don't forget the agents.  
  
Notes: This is an alternate ending to 'The Real World.' This is as a favor to Lauren K who gave me my first good review for that fic.  
  
To anyone who cares the reason I killed Smith off in the first version was because I couldn't think of what the hell to do with him (in the story that is). Plus I got a flame and a half for my logic behind it. After I uploaded it thought I started to think what would I have done if I hadn't killed Smith. Here is what I thought.  
  
AU. Please note that this fic is completely AU. This is important for the end of the fic. AU.  
  
Word Count: 4400  
  
Summary: This is what happened after the Neb hits whatever it hit and Neo and Smith are in Smith's room.  
  
Please Read and Review.  
  
The ship stopped moving and they were all thrown into darkness. Neo sat up painfully and heard circuitry popping all around them. He felt he had to ask. 'Are you alive Smith?'  
  
'Do you even want to know Mr. Anderson?'  
  
'That answers my question.' Neo looked around, his eyes were slowly adjusting to the almost nonexistent light. 'We should get up to the command deck.'  
  
Smith nodded in the dark and rose. Neo went to the door but Smith sarcastically said, 'allow me Mr. Anderson.' Smith's hand reached for the doorknob but hovered about a foot from it.  
  
'Are you going to open the door or not Smith?'  
  
'I don't believe so, it's charged with electricity. If I try to open it I would get fried.'  
  
'Sure,' Neo reached for it. Smith picked up a the spoon from his last meal and threw it toward the door. Electrical crackles ran over the door.  
  
'Oh,' Neo muttered.  
  
'Exactly Mr. Anderson.'  
  
'If you get on my nerves I will still kill you.'  
  
'Only if Zion doesn't get their hands on me first,' Smith said bitterly.  
  
'If Morpheus wants you alive then he'll try and find some way of keeping you alive. If you want to survive you will have to act human though.'  
  
'Humans are.'  
  
'One tip for staying alive in the real world - don't insult humans.'  
  
He heard Morpheus' voice outside. 'Neo!'  
  
'Yeah?'  
  
'Don't touch the door, it's charged.'  
  
'No problem.'  
  
About twenty minutes later they had made the door safe enough to open and the pair were freed.  
  
'How come you didn't try and come out?' Tank asked. 'How did you know the door was charged?'  
  
'It was simple,' Neo said, casting a dark look at Smith. He wasn't even going to credit him where credit was due. Smith frowned to himself and followed Neo out.  
  
'We hit a rock slide Morpheus, we'll have to take her to Zion for repairs.' Smith's step faltered, he wasn't sure he was ready to go to his doom quite yet.  
  
'Zion?'  
  
'Commonly known as the place you have been trying to destroy for years,' Neo muttered. 'We should be there in four hours.'  
  
Four hours? Smith thought. Only four hours? The crew dispersed to their assigned duties. Tank went up to the command deck to set a course, the ex- agent followed.  
  
Tank groaned inwardly as he saw Disk follow him because he knew it wasn't Disk. How was he ever going to explain that to all of Disk's friends?  
  
He settled down into the chair and headed toward Zion. Smith stood behind him. 'Are they going to kill me?'  
  
'Depends.'  
  
'On what?'  
  
'On how many people believe you would be an asset alive compared to how many people are crying out for your blood.'  
  
Smith shivered at that thought. 'I do deserve it.'  
  
'At least we agree on one point but at least your helped Trin to escape. We're grateful for that even though you had an ulterior motive.'  
  
'What if.What if we don't tell them who I am?'  
  
'Then how could you explain how you know what you know? And being in Disk's body?'  
  
'A communication error put me back into the wrong body. You could tell them that I hacked into part of the matrix mainframe.'  
  
'That could work but I think Morpheus will want to tell them who you are. If he doesn't Neo will, besides they could smell you out.'  
  
'I hate smell.but I smell human.'  
  
'Figurative, that's exactly what I'm talking about. In your own 'body' or not you still look like an agent.' Tank stood and critiqued him.  
  
'You're standing, usually when you talk to someone you sit down. Your stance makes you look like you're in an army line up.' Tank pointed out about twenty things that sold Smith out as an agent.  
  
'No one would ever believe that you're human.'  
  
'Do you think, would you teach me?'  
  
'You really don't want to die do you?'  
  
'No.' Smith's voice was barely above a whisper.  
  
'We've got less than four hours.'  
  
'I'm a quick study.'  
  
'Sure what the hell, I like a challenge.'  
  
'Where do we start?'  
  
Tank started to explain to Smith how to act human.  
  
*****  
  
Two decks below Neo and Trinity were doing some preliminary repairs. 'Are you ok Trinity?' Neo asked.  
  
'Sure. Why?'  
  
'You were just taken prisoner by agents. Thrown in a cell and just escaped with your life.'  
  
'Oh, that. Why shouldn't I be ok?'  
  
'You don't have to be brave around me.' Trinity smirked at him.  
  
'I'm fine Neo.'  
  
'What about Smith?'  
  
'I'm sure he's fine too Neo, why don't you ask him?' Trinity said with a sly smile.  
  
'Why did we let him back out?'  
  
'Didn't you hear him?'  
  
'Why did you want him back out Trinity? He could have killed you in there.'  
  
'I know Neo. What he is going to tell us will be worth that.'  
  
'I hope so.'  
  
'Neo, please.I hate him almost as much as you but I think he deserves a chance.'  
  
Neo didn't reply to that. 'Are you hungry Trin?'  
  
'I could go for some gruel.'  
  
'My specialty.'  
  
They put down their tools and went to the mess hall. They were surprised to find the other three already there.  
  
'Neo, Trinity sit down,' Morpheus said. 'Smith is telling us how to tell the other two agents apart.'  
  
'Great,' Neo muttered.  
  
'It was the only conversation topic I could think of,' Smith said. 'Anyway, since they look alike the only real way to tell them apart is their 'personalities' and I use the term loosely. Jones is a geek, he's a nerd simply he doesn't get involved in many fights. Brown on the other hand is a violent psychopath, for an agent at least. When not on a mission he would use his free time to kill simulated humans.'  
  
'Jones was operating that computer that read my mind wasn't he?'  
  
'Yes Trinity.'  
  
'He's shorter than you and Brown.'  
  
'Personally I always thought of him as the 'little brother'.' Neo gave Smith a dark look.  
  
'Agents don't have brothers.'  
  
'True but his program came online three seconds after Brown and I.'  
  
'Is there anyway to kill an agent for good? In such a way that won't allow a back-up copy of his matrix to come online?'  
  
'They would have to be deleted from the mainframe. The mainframe is in the real world, there is nothing you can destroy in the matrix that would bring it off line.'  
  
'There goes my theory. Why didn't you gloat about that when you came through the first time?'  
  
'I didn't want to give you any information. Speaking of which your agent training program should be degrading at this very moment. I put a virus into it when I 'helping' to improve it.'  
  
'Smith.' Neo growled.  
  
'I could make another one easily. With the improvements I promised on the first one,' Smith said quickly, trying to stay off Neo's bad side.  
  
Despite his efforts, he earned a dark look from Neo. An alarm beeped, Tank rose and went to the command deck. They were approaching Zion.  
  
Smith felt his stomach sink, it was an odd sensation for him. One by one the others left, Morpheus was the last.  
  
'Morpheus?'  
  
'What Smith?'  
  
'Are you going to tell them who.what I am?'  
  
'Why shouldn't I?'  
  
'They will kill me and you will never get any of the information I am capable of giving you.'  
  
'What do you suggest?'  
  
'Don't tell them. There is no need for them to know. Please.'  
  
While Morpheus considered the facts. Smith's face was contorting. 'What are you doing?'  
  
'I am attempting to look 'pleading' I am not sure which muscles to use.'  
  
Whatever he was doing, it disturbed him, Morpheus gave in. 'You are a monster Smith but Trinity says you deserve a second chance, for the moment you have it.'  
  
'Thank you.'  
  
The damaged Neb landed at a docking platform in Zion. The crew stepped off as several technicians came up to help with repairs. Smith swallowed as several humans passed him but relaxed when he realized they had no idea what he was.  
  
'Whenever a crew lands, we go and help everyone else. This society is dependent on everyone helping everyone else.' Trinity said to him. 'What can you do beside kill people?'  
  
'I'm good with computers.'  
  
'We have enough technicians and programmers for the moment. The help they require is more.human, helping with the sick, looking after children, etc.'  
  
'Children?'  
  
'Got anything against the sick?'  
  
'Viruses.'  
  
'Neo.'Trinity began to call. Smith grabbed her.  
  
'I'll look after sick children just keep him away from me.' Trinity stifled a laugh.  
  
'Okay.' She led him to an infirmary full of sick children. She turned to go back and help with the Neb.  
  
'Don't tell them your name is Smith.'  
  
'Then what do I call myself?'  
  
'Try 'Smitty'.'  
  
'Smitty?'  
  
'It'll keep you alive.'  
  
'Smitty?' he said to himself. Is life worth this? He thought. A woman walked over to him.  
  
'Are you here to help?'  
  
'Yes.'  
  
'Then come, I'll show you what to do.' He followed helplessly and was soon giving out medication to children.  
  
The idea of children was foreign to agents and machines in general. They knew of them and grew them in fields to keep the population up in the matrix. But the initial idea if needing a child-stage was deemed lowly by the machines and another human weakness.  
  
Smith had to study them years ago to better understand what it was he was fighting, the children in the matrix were different to the ones in the real world.  
  
The children before him were spreading their germs with each cough, all were thin and disheveled. The nurse had given him the job of making sure each took their right medication.  
  
He walked around the room with a tray of paper cups, a name was written in black on each of them. He stopped by a bed.  
  
'Name.' The sick child looked up in distaste at him.  
  
'Say please.'  
  
'Name.' Smith said again.  
  
'Jonathan.' Smith plucked a cup from the tray and handed it to him. 'I can't reach my water.'  
  
Smith sighed, put the tray on the nearest table and handed the boy his glass. His pills were swallowed and he moved on.  
  
He had done all but one of the children in the room. The last was a little girl, no more than six years old.  
  
'Here,' he said handing them to her. She tried to accept them but started coughing. She used a dirty rag to try and cover her mouth.  
  
He tried to take a step back, not wanting to get sick but her little hand shot out and caught a hold of him. 'Please don't go,' she said through coughs.  
  
'Help,' Smith said, unsure what to do. One of the older kids rose.  
  
'What's wrong?'  
  
'She's coughing, I don't know what to do.'  
  
The older kid nodded, 'I'll get the nurse.' The little girl coughed harder, the dirty rag was covered in blood that she had coughed up.  
  
She started to cry through her coughs. Smith knew she was afraid, she still hadn't let his hand go. Why hadn't the nurse come back yet? She held his hand tighter, what would a human do?  
  
He thought of the times he had been to hospitals, strictly on business of course. He had seen parents holding their sick children.  
  
He sat down and she leant against him. Her body convulsed as the coughs got worse. Her hand let go of the rag. She stopped coughing.  
  
Smith pulled her back to see if she was all right. She wasn't moving. He pressed two trembling fingers against her neck. She was dead.  
  
He stood up and away from her. The nurse came back in, she took a look at her. 'There was nothing you could have done,' she said to Smith. 'At least she had someone with her.'  
  
'May I be excused please?' The nurse nodded as she covered the little girl up with a sheet.  
  
Smith went out to the hall outside the infirmary. He was shaking, he had never seen death on this level before. He had killed hundreds of rebels but had never seen a child die.  
  
His shirt was covered in blood. He leant against the wall before slipping to the ground. He had never felt like this before. Compared to this, the terror he had felt during his nightmare was negligible.  
  
Trinity came up the hall and saw him sitting by the wall, his front covered in blood. Her old senses kicked in, immediately thinking, who has he killed now? As she came closer she saw him staring blankly ahead.  
  
'Smith? Smith?' He didn't hear her. She looked into the infirmary. She saw the little body being taken away.  
  
'She died.' He said.  
  
'It happens, we can't cure all the illnesses these kids have.' Trinity wasn't uncaring, she had just come to accept the facts.  
  
'I couldn't do anything.'  
  
'Are you okay?'  
  
'No,' he said honestly. 'I'm not.'  
  
'Get up, you can't sit there all day.' He looked up her, using his trembling hands he pushed himself up.  
  
'I don't hate humans anymore.' He said, 'Why did she die?' He started to slip to the floor. Trinity caught him and pulled him back to his feet. He started to cry. Trinity was surprised by how much this had affected him.  
  
She hugged him, her shoulder was wet with his tears.  
  
Neo came walking up the hall. He didn't see Smith crying, all he saw was Trinity hugging an agent. He turned in anger and walked back toward the Neb.  
  
Smith pulled away from Trinity. 'I'm sorry,' he said, embarrassed.  
  
'It's ok, seeing a kid dying is hard on anyone.'  
  
'Is this what it means to be human?'  
  
'Yes. I think you're finally understanding.'  
  
Smith excused himself and went back to his room on the Neb. He tried to clean the blood from the shirt but it wouldn't come off. He found another in the cupboard and changed.  
  
Someone knocked on the door, he opened it without reservation. Neo stood there.  
  
'Neo, what do you want? I want to be alone.'  
  
'You didn't seem to mind the company when you were with Trinity.'  
  
Smith didn't understand what he meant. 'What are you talking about?'  
  
Neo stepped into the room. He turned and closed the door, Smith swallowed when he heard the lock click. 'You know what I'm talking about.'  
  
'No, I don't.'  
  
'You might have fooled Morpheus, Tank and even my Trin but I still know what you are. Keep away from her.'  
  
Smith understood. 'Don't be ridiculous, grow up Mr. Anderson.'  
  
'Stop calling me that.' Neo lunged at Smith, he punched him in the face and Smith dropped to the deck. 'Keep away from her.'  
  
'You want to know what happened?'  
  
'No.' Neo said, opening the door and slamming it behind him. Smith sat up and wiped the blood from his face.  
  
He sighed, knowing he would never, ever fully understand humans. So far they had kept his secret. Morpheus, Tank and Trinity had kept their word, he wondered how long it would take until Neo broke.  
  
He went to the mess, poured himself some gruel and retreated back to his room. Somehow it was the only place he felt safe.  
  
He sat alone for an hour before he realized he was being ridiculous. He left the Neb and went back to helping in the infirmary. No other children died but he was sure to keep one eye on the nurse so she could be on hand in case of an emergency.  
  
*****  
  
Neo and Trinity were finishing off the last of the repairs. Neo couldn't help but feel a little betrayed.  
  
'Where's Smith?'  
  
'He's was the infirmary, then he came back here I think. Why?'  
  
'No reason. No, it's nothing.'  
  
'Neo? What's wrong?'  
  
'Have all of you forgotten what he is?'  
  
'Of course not, why?'  
  
'I saw you with him.'  
  
'You saw.what?' She thought for a minute. 'Oh, let me explain.'  
  
'You don't need to explain anything, I saw it all.'  
  
'Oh, you saw the tears, you saw the blood, you saw the dead child.'  
  
'Dead.did he?'  
  
'No, she had a bad flu. She died right in front of him and it shook him to the core.'  
  
'I see.'  
  
'Neo, relax.' He looked down at her.  
  
'How am I supposed to relax?'  
  
'Would a back rub help?'  
  
He smiled. 'Couldn't hurt.' She smiled and moved toward him, Neo relaxed - perhaps he was a little paranoid, especially when it came to anyone coming near his Trinity.  
  
'Morpheus wants to know when the repairs will be finished,' Smith said appearing in the doorway.  
  
'Can I kill him?,' Neo whispered to Trinity. 'An hour Smith, now get lost.'  
  
'Don't shoot the messenger,' the ex-agent muttered as he climbed back up to the command deck.  
  
*****  
  
Months later.  
  
'Morpheus?' Smith said as he came onto the command deck. It was late at night and Morpheus was the only other one up.  
  
'Yes Smitty?'  
  
'Please don't use that name. I have something to ask you.'  
  
'What is it?'  
  
'If there was a way to destroy the matrix, would you take it?'  
  
'Of course.'  
  
'There is a single room that controls the matrix. The programmer is in that room, no machine knows anything of 'him' other than the fact that he controls us. If 'he' is destroyed the matrix could be taken off line from that room.'  
  
'It is probably the most guarded place in the real world. Why are you telling me this, I didn't think you were ready to betray your side to such a degree quite yet.'  
  
'Humans never things slowly, I am learning. Do you think it could be done?'  
  
'It would be the biggest gamble in mankind's checkered history. If it succeeded we would win the war. If we lost, every chance that we ever had would be gone.'  
  
'I only told you because I thought you would like to be in possession of this information.'  
  
Morpheus considered the information and after prodding Smith for everything he knew about the room he asked Tank to set a course for Zion.  
  
'We're doing this?' Neo asked, Morpheus had discussed it in great detail with him.  
  
'All of Zion has to approve. The end or the war or the end of humanity, they might not approve of the risk.'  
  
The Neb landed at the docking platform and everyone followed Morpheus to what passed as a conference room. All the leaders of the ships and a few others who helped with the day to day running of Zion - humanity's government, all looked up as the crew entered the room.  
  
Morpheus explained the plan in great detail while they listened stoically. After he finished, a tough looking woman spoke up.  
  
'How do you know all this?'  
  
Morpheus shot a look to Smith who nodded slowly giving him permission to let his secret out. He had chosen his side, whatever was going to happen would happen.  
  
'We received this information from an agent,' Morpheus started.  
  
'An agent?' the woman asked incredulously, 'it's a trap.'  
  
'No it's not, it is the truth,' Smith said.  
  
'How do you know - Disk isn't it?'  
  
'No, it's not. It's Smith. Ex-agent Smith.' That killed the whispered conversations in the room. Smith swallowed, a human trait he had picked up easily.  
  
One unanimous word came from everyone in the room that didn't know, 'Smith?'  
  
He heard a dozen weapons being aimed at him, 'I have just given you a way to free humanity. Are you still going to kill me?' His voice was emotionless, much more like his old self than the pseudo-person he had been the last few months.  
  
He stood, awaiting whatever fate was to befall him, he would die on his feet at least.  
  
'No,' Morpheus said.  
  
There was a general murmur of 'but' from the council.  
  
'No,' Morpheus said again and didn't need to say anything more. They sat down and listened to the fine details of the plan.  
  
The attack was scheduled to take place two weeks later. Every ship in the last human city was being fitted with every weapon that they could find, make, repair or invent.  
  
Two ships, the Neb and the Medusa would be the ships to take out the matrix itself while the rest were to draw the machine's attention away. Hopefully the distraction would be enough.  
  
The news about Smith couldn't stay a secret forever and soon nervous glances were everywhere in Zion. He was the embodiment of the machines, the face of the enemy and now he was leading them to freedom. Many suspected a trap, none blamed them.  
  
On the morning of the attack all of Zion gathered in one large cavern to pray. Smith hung back, unsure of the meaning of prayer or religion.  
  
'We can't always count on ourselves so we hope that someone else can look after us,' a voice said from behind him. He saw a young boy.  
  
'Jonathan,' the boy said. 'I was.'  
  
'In the infirmary, I remember. Why aren't you praying with them?'  
  
'I believe that if there is someone to help us, they will hear me anyway.'  
  
'Logical,' Smith commented.  
  
'Is this going to work or are we all going to die?'  
  
'I don't know.'  
  
After the mass was finished everyone reported to their ships. The diversion ships left first. After the machines were distracted the Neb and the Medusa set out.  
  
After a few skirmishes they landed and entered a huge complex. Most of the guarding machines had been sent to deal with the last fight with the rebels.  
  
Both of the crews followed Smith, weapons drawn. Many were killed but most were injured by the remaining robots. Morpheus stayed behind to help with the injured rebels when he was shot in the leg and couldn't go any further.  
  
Neo, Trinity and Smith sprinted down a corridor toward the fabled room. A titan of a guard stood in their way.  
  
Neo fitted a rocket and fired at it. It was stunned so he fitted another. Smith saw a red sensor come online. An ascending whine was heard. It pumped out a few rounds, Neo hid behind a support but one of the bullets struck Trinity.  
  
Smith tackled her toward the wall and shielded her as the guard exploded. Shrapnel flew everywhere. In the clearing smoke Neo came running to find them. Coughing from the dust, Smith drew back from Trinity, she hadn't been hit by the exploding machine but the bullet had done some bad damage.  
  
Neo swallowed hard. This was the choice he had never wanted to make. Smith spoke what Neo was thinking.  
  
'Neo there is a choice. Trinity or humanity. Stay with her or help me to take the matrix down.'  
  
'No,' Neo said, he wouldn't leave Trinity.  
  
'Go,' she said weakly.  
  
'Morpheus will find her. Come on.' Smith started down the corridor without him. Humans are illogical, he thought.  
  
'Mr. Anderson. She will have died for nothing.' Neo took one last look at Trinity before following him. He glared at the other man, but he had spoken the truth. Everything was riding on this.  
  
They reached the room then they stopped to look at the door. It was a plain green door, normal like it led to a boss's office. The surrealistically normal door was locked. Both men counted to three and ran at it.  
  
It gave easily and they found themselves in an office. A wooden desk stood in disuse and an old man stood in front of a computer screen. Neo blinked a couple of times, this was far from what he had expected.  
  
'What have you done?' the old man asked him.  
  
'Who are you?' Neo demanded of him.  
  
'I am the programmer, I created the matrix.'  
  
'You?' Neo asked.  
  
'Hard to believe isn't it Mr. Anderson? A human like you.' The old man said without turning.  
  
'You can't be human, the first matrix was created one hundred and ninety- seven years ago.' Smith said.  
  
'Life can be prolonged,' the old man said sadly. 'You rebels have done it. Finally, I hope you can live with yourself, you have no idea what you've done.'  
  
'We have freed humanity,' Neo said.  
  
'And doomed them to a short life in a desert. You can't handle this. Billions of humans being unplugged at the same time, they will all die,' he said bitterly.  
  
'Why do you care?' Neo asked.  
  
The old man turned to look at them, 'they are like my children Mr. Anderson.'  
  
'My name is Neo,' Neo said without thought. He and Smith looked at each other, there was something eerily familiar about the way he said his name. Smith looked unblinkingly at the man.  
  
'You can stop staring at me, you know who I am,' the old man said to Smith. 'I'm you, I used myself as the agent template. I remind you of yourself before you betrayed your own side.'  
  
'You betrayed me first, you were going to delete me.'  
  
'Smith. You were always unstable. You were a waste of programming time, you were too human.'  
  
Smith looked at Neo, 'am I that annoying?'  
  
'You used to be worse.'  
  
'Now I know why I wanted to kill me.'  
  
'Want Smith, not wanted. Want.'  
  
'Yes Neo of course, can we kill him now?' Neo nodded and they both lunged at him.  
  
The battle was short. Smith jumped on the computers and stop the shut down of all the pods, the occupants were now in a deep sleep.  
  
'Why did you do that?'  
  
'You want humanity dead Neo? This way the pods will only come off line when you want it too, save a few at time rather than lose them all.'  
  
With the shutdown of the main computer system, all the machines fighting the rebels were taken off line or set to self-destruct. Neo let out a sigh, they had won. It seemed unreal, the war was over.  
  
Morpheus came into the office with a bandaged and limping Trinity. 'It's over?' he asked.  
  
'Yes,' Neo replied. 'Finally over.'  
  
'No, it's the beginning. Humanity is getting second chance.' Smith said. All nodded in silent agreement.  
  
The sun came out for the first time in two centuries the next morning.  
  
The End. 


End file.
